On the other hand, due to the activity of American factories, the allies were supplied with more ammunition, guns and food than ever before since the war began. Also, numerically, were superior to the foe.
With these facts in mind, Field Marshal Foch ordered the advance all along the front that was to prove the end of Germany as a military power; that was to result in the abdication of the German emperor and the crown prince; and that was to mean revolution throughout the German empire until such time as a stable government could raise its head and the common people could come into their own.
And so it was a great day for the German people when Marshal Foch gave the word that set his millions of men in motion from the North Sea hundreds of miles south to the frontier of Switzerland. It was a move that meant that the German people would do away with masters and would set up a government of their own—a government which was to be patterned after that of the United States of America—a "government of the people, for the people and by the people."
In this last great mission, Hal and Chester were to perform their full duties, and they were to have greater fortune than ever before, for they were to be "in at the death," as Hal put it, with Marshal Foch when the great French military leader gave to the enemy terms that resulted in the ending of the war.
In the meantime, all unconscious of what was in store for them, the two lads, after returning from their mission within the German lines, were taking a well deserved rest in their temporary quarters in the French city of Rheims.
CHAPTER VIII
TOWARD SEDAN
The American army was moving toward Sedan. Already the Yankee forces advancing from the south and west had occupied St. Aigan and invested Maisoncelle, Stonne and Sommauthe. The enemy had contested every inch of the ground, but the Americans were not to be denied. The Forty-second division, better known as the Rainbow Division, under command of Major-General Charles D. Rhodes, and the Second division, regular army troops, commanded by Major-General John A. Lejeune, were showing the way.
On either side of these forces were the Seventy-seventh and the Eighty-second divisions, commanded respectively by Major-General Robert Alexander and Major-General George P. Duncan.
In these American units advancing upon Sedan were represented fighting men from all sections of the United States.